Compost or trash bin  

This kills broad based weeds, but my friend said he would just spray the grass and keep away from the apple tree and the strawberries, so I guessed it would affect them. Anyway we have had a couple of good rains and we are having a thunder shower right now so that should make it all right to put the grass around the plants the next time i mow the lawn.

I left the clippings in the back since we already had a good rain three times. So then I will spread it on the bed. The ground is quite hard and it does need softening up.

That's probably exactly what I'd do.

I guess that is all we can do. We tried to get the city to now spray the Malathon to get rid of the mosquitoes, but it seems there are way too many that covering water spots, and we do need water bowls for the birds. If there were a cheap and effective way to do it it would help although a few of the neighbors have bird houses for birds.

When it rains here, it really pours and we have had at least four good soaks so it should be all right.

Thanks for the best response, I really appreciate it alot.

You're welcome. Sometimes it rains a lot here and sometimes it does not. Last summer was a wet one but most of the time in August it is quite dry.

I threw the first two weeks of grass away, and the other I just let sit and then put it around the strawberries. It did rain a lot so that got rid of any poison there was around. So at least tha,t it is all right.

I did do a search, but then here I am on myLot trying to get other ideas. For instance when we lived in Vancouver, B.C. we had to cover the compost because it rained all the time, but in the Prairies it is different. We have clay soil and it really absorbs the water and when it gets dry, the ground gets cracked. I have usually put dried grass around the plants and that sort of helped. Sometimes I would dig the dead produce in, but we have such a short growing season, that by the time it starts to work, the ground is freezing already.

The city here sprays Malathon to get rid of the mosquitoes. And when they spray, we can sure smell it. Also most everyone wants green lawn and get the companies that specialize in weed free lawns spray the grass. If not, we get a whole lot of dandelions. WE know, because we decided not to get the grass weed free because of the cost, and when we got the house renovated, they had to use Roundup to get rid of our lawn and had to dig the lawn up. But before that, before we got the house renovated, there were lots of dandelions in the back yard, so a friend of mine sprayed just the grass in the backyard and avoided the apple tree and strawberry patch. He told me to bag the grass and not compost it and to wait until there was a good rain.
Well when we had the house renovated, we were out for three weeks and it was past planting season when we got back so nothing was harmed.

A friend of mine sprayed the back yard. I would not do that myself, but I guess people assume that I am not speaking of myself. Maybe I should have done that for a new Years resolution: Be specific in telling people what you mean," instead of mundane things such as save more money, keep a schedule, exercise more and things like that.
Oh and my friend told me not to use the grass for compost and to bag it for a couple of weeks - that is, to bag the first growth and then the next week, bag the second growth. He also said that after a good rain it would be all right. However, I did not know if a good rain would cancel out on of the baggings.

That is a good idea..:)

So what I did after the first two bags that the garbage collectors picked up was to leave the next bag open for a while so that the residue of the spray would disappear. It did rain after that, and none of my plants died except when the neighbor threw the trash over and then there was the neighborhood dog. I replanted the root again, but did not think it did much good as we had to leave to stay at the motel for three weeks because of the house renovation.

I heard of dandelion wine. In fact when I was a young teenager, my dad or a friend of his made some. And that put me off on wine until I was well into my mid twenties. Here in Manitoba, even if one does not spray their lawn, there is someone else who does. I know about salt getting rid of slugs. I did not know about vinegar getting rid of dandelions. I rather use vinegar to clean things in the house, like windows and mirrors and stuff.
Do they make the dandelion jelly out of the petals or the roots?

I've heard that straight dandelion wine is horrible. Most people add half a dozen oranges and lemons that like the stuff and a ton of sugar so it doesn't take like dandelions.

The jelly-the petals
The coffee-the roots

If you search flower jelly on the web, you'll get one recipe that is good for all edible flowers like nastersiums (spelling?), wild or sweet violets (never use african violets) and so on.

Also if you search dandelion root coffee, you should be able to get a recipe for that, too. Lots of parts of dandelions are edible.

I like vinegar for cleaning, too. Take care.

So it was not just me that did not like the wine. I thought it was because I was a teenager and my system had not adapted to drinking alcohol.